Oregon Field GuideA member of the Oregon Field Guide crew gets a key grip on an adventurous camerman for the OPB show.

Steve Amen walks a little more gingerly these days, but three hip replacements haven't slowed him a bit.

The camera-is-rolling red light always blinks in the mind of the 57-year-old executive producer and host of "Oregon Field Guide," one of Public Broadcast Service's most popular locally produced shows. Yes, the national system, not just Oregon Public Broadcasting.

"Yeah, we've got a few Emmys and some others," he says with a gesture at the window connecting his happily cluttered office with a view of Macadam Avenue's trees, swaying in the wind. Eight of the golden statuettes pose on the ledge, along with several other shimmering awards, a testament to perhaps OPB's greatest contribution to the people of Oregon.

Eight Emmys; close to one every other year. More than one major award a year counting the others.

"Oregon Field Guide" kicks off its 20th season Thursday, but not with the usual look back at its high points the past two decades.

Instead, viewers will be treated to a rare look at the staff, those who keep Amen's red light blinking.

"They're just incredible," Amen says. "We've got the same people working with us that we had 20 years ago. It's amazing."

Try astounding.

Try tuning in Thursday and watch as the photographers climb tall peaks, hike treacherous terrain, take to surfboards in towering waves, fall off horses, nearly fall off cliffs, don't fall off tall wind generators (that photographer tries to distract his wife's attention every Thursday night) and film some of Oregon's unique residents (a house made from timber slash?).

I won't give away more, but it's a behind-the-scenes view of "Oregon Field Guide" you won't want to miss, hosted by one of the show's earliest stars, Melissa Mills.

Week in and week out, the show brings Oregon viewers fresh views of what makes this state such a special place.

Amen and his staff have little use for commercial television news, and for good reason.

In the on-air words you'll hear Thursday from Vince Patton, six-year environmental reporter for KGW(8) until he moved to OPB in 2007:

"Who could pass up the opportunity to have nine minutes instead of 90 seconds to tell a meaningful story? Who could pass the chance to have three days instead of three hours to shoot it? The depth and the breadth we have is just remarkable, and to have it at the local level is, I think, stunning. Almost no other city in America has a show like this."

"Oregon Field Guide" not only tackles stories and issues other stations won't, it digests stories other stations don't even know about.

"There was some concern at one point early on that we'd run out of things to do," Amen says impishly, gleefully adding: "Won't happen."

"Oregon Field Guide" has yet to rehash an old story, other than the obvious where-are-they now updates. Fresh new stories air in October and November, repeat in December and January, are new again February and March and then filter into reruns through spring and summer. Amen said repeats from past years are used only sparingly.

The coming season, for example, will kick off with a trip beneath the surface of the Yamhill River, a bucolic Willamette Valley tributary, where a scuba-diving archaeologist searches for the past. "Field Guide" videographers capture a new discovery on tape for the first show.

There will be stories about volcanic eruptions beneath the Pacific off the coast; how Lewis and Clark's men made salt on the north Oregon Coast; Oregon and Idaho's battle about how to save Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep from diseases carried by domestic herds; a fungal disease killing salamanders and frogs that's gained foothold in Oregon; feral pigs and the damage they've caused -- the list is long, new and, as usual, refreshingly new, diverse and compelling.

Amen and his crews remain focused on their mission.

"What we do best," he says, "is expose Oregon to a community of viewers who often don't realize just what an incredible place this is."